The Other Monty in 3.6 hours

There are two Monty’s in my travel life.

The loveliest is Monterey, California with its big sweeping bay, the hilly peninsula, the expensive golf courses and the lingering presence of John Steinbeck.

The other is the administrative, commercial, medical and banking center of Northern Mexico in the state of Nuevo León. This Monterrey is less attractive ~ although the two “r’s” in its name seem to give it some sort of orthographical balance.

Monterrey is roughly halfway between Houston and Mexico City. The 2 R’s is surrounded on 3 sides by jagged, blue mountains. These are called the Sierra Madre Oriental range and the big peak looming over the city looks like an extracted tooth with a cavity.

The center of this Monty is divided by a wide, dry river bed, two highways on each side and a busy north-south rail line (check to see if your hotel is well away from the tracks as the “mournful” sound of the whistle can be heard all night).

I’m not doing this Monty justice. This is my 4th or 5th visit (yes, more international schools) so I tend to see the place through the eyes of acquaintances here. These are well educated, family oriented, hard-working, bilingual citizens of the Mexico that is trying to succeed under the long shadow of the US of A ~ just to the North.

The city is doing its best to avoid the drug-war related horrors of the Tex-Mex borderlands to the west and the denizens here feel that education, resolve and family values are the way to make it all succeed.

Sensible and I hope it works. This Monty is worth a visit.